The Next Doctor

199 – "The Next Doctor"
Doctor Who episode
Cast
Companions
Others
Production
Directed byAndy Goddard
Written byRussell T Davies
Script editorLindsey Alford
Produced bySusie Liggat
Executive producer(s)Russell T Davies
Julie Gardner
Music byMurray Gold
Production code4.14
Series2008–2010 specials
Running time60 minutes
First broadcast25 December 2008 (2008-12-25)[1]
Chronology
← Preceded by
"Journey's End" (episode)
"Music of the Spheres" (mini-episode)
Followed by →
"Planet of the Dead"
List of episodes (2005–present)

"The Next Doctor" is a special episode of the British science fiction television programme Doctor Who, broadcast on 25 December 2008 as the fourth Doctor Who Christmas special of the revived series.[3] During its original airing, the episode had an audience of 13.1 million viewers[4] and was the second-most-watched programme of Christmas Day 2008.[5] It was the final Doctor Who episode to be filmed in standard definition.

David Tennant stars as the Tenth Doctor with one-off companions Jackson Lake (David Morrissey) and Rosita Farisi (Velile Tshabalala).[6][7] The episode is set in London during the Christmas period of 1851. In the episode, the Doctor teams up with a man who appears to be another incarnation of himself; in their quest to foil a plot by the Cybermen to create a giant Cyberman called a CyberKing under the control of workhouse matron Miss Hartigan (Dervla Kirwan), the two inadvertently discover that the "new" Doctor is actually Jackson Lake, a regular human who began suffering from amnesia and believing himself to be the Doctor after interacting with Cyberman technology.

  1. ^ Spilsbury, Tom (21 August 2008). "Letter from the Editor". Doctor Who Magazine (399). Royal Tunbridge Wells, Kent: Panini Comics: 3.
  2. ^ Walker, Stephen James (17 December 2008). "Series Overview". Monsters Within: the Unofficial and Unauthorised Guide to Doctor Who 2008. Tolworth, Surrey, England: Telos Publishing. p. 232. ISBN 978-1-84583-027-4.
  3. ^ "Programme Information - BBC Network TV Weeks 52/53: Doctor Who – The Next Doctor". BBC. Retrieved 27 November 2008.
  4. ^ Cite error: The named reference viewercount was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  5. ^ Cite error: The named reference ratings was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  6. ^ Mark Cossey (executive producer), Zoë Rushton (producer), Gillane Seaborne (series producer) (25 December 2008). "Xmas 2008". Doctor Who Confidential. Series 4. Episode 14. BBC. BBC Three.
  7. ^ Russell T Davies, Julie Gardner (hosts) (25 December 2008). "The Next Doctor". Doctor Who: The Commentaries. Series 1. Episode 14. BBC. BBC Radio 7.